Window replaced at last

 Hurrah! After four months of waiting, our cracked window has been replaced. They have also put in the metal pressings to create the look of a giant window with six frames.

It is a bit annoying that we haven't put up the glass balustrade on the balcony yet because we thought that they would hoist the window up on the outside of the house, but instead they just took it up the stairs. At least we can get it ordered now. 

They have also fitted the window cills, so at last it is nearly all sorted out. 

The windows are fantastic and we absolutely love them, it's just a shame that we bought them through such a poor company. 

Furniture moving day

 I have spent the last few days in Nottingham packing up all of our stuff ready for the completion date. It is due to be sold tomorrow, so all of our worldly goods were loaded on a van yesterday by the excellent Move4U team.

We have used them many times over the years, and we went to the same school, but unfortunately they are all younger than me. 

They arrived on site this morning and before noon we were all unpacked and boxes are scattered about the whole house. 

They were happy to take two settees, a big telly and my new cocktail cabinet up to the top floor, and before they left they checked to make sure that there was nothing else heavy that needed moving. 

As usual, I have written strange labels on the boxes, such as 'misc', which are already annoying as I can't remember what is in them now, but it made perfect sense at the time. I have called one 'bread bin', but really what it means is that I put the fish sculptures in the bread bin to keep them safe in the move. 

I have separated the kettle from it's base, and packed the coffee machine very carefully, but I can't remember which box the metal milk frother went in,but it's all good, and will all get sorted soon. 

Shower screen fun

 Daz decided to put in the shower screen in the house main bathroom, which I like to think of as 'my' bathroom.

It is a lovely quarter circle screen that we bought as ex display from a local store. 

He fixed the two metal uprights in place on the tiling then called me to help put in the screens. This involved two pieces of glass and the top and bottom rails that were all screwed together to make one large, wobbly and fragile thing. 

We lifted it up between us and carefully tried to push one end in to place. There then followed at least twenty minutes of arguing how best to do it, pushing, shoving and balancing before it finally slipped into place. 

Phew, and I hadn't even finished thinking to myself 'that is never coming out ever again', before Darren announced that it was upside down.

After nearly screaming in frustration we pulled it back out, gingerly turned it the right way up and then started the process of getting it back into place. 

I don't know if our technique was better, or if it had bent into the right angle, but it went in much more easily second time around. 

It looks fantastic, and he has also put up a handy shampoo bottle holder too. 

A little bit of bricklaying

 The plasterers are working on the staircase at the moment, so to keep out of their way I spent the day in the garden.

I needed to build little walls in the garden, and I started the first one today. 

I have built three rows of bricks and used two spirit levels, and I am happy to report that it is level. 

There is also a bit of mortar smeared on the bricks, and even Trevor who was our real bricklayer found that to be a problem. Apparently the white bricks show all of the marks on them, and all that I need to do is to get the brick acid out and clean them. 

Once it's all dried I am going to backfill behind the wall with stones to help with drainage and put a couple of inches of topsoil on to finish it off. 

I then crawled around for the whole afternoon digging out a trench for the foundations for the matching mini wall around the fishpond. 

I also desperately need to cut the grass, level up the bench and sort out the steps up to the greenhouse.

Tiling plan

 We have bought hexagon shaped tiles in four different colours for the en suite bathroom. The idea is to arrange them randomly, and Richard the tiler says that 'random' is more difficult than you would think.

He wants us to do it ourselves, take a photo and then he will tile to our design. 

I see what he means, and neither the white or black tiles go well next to each other as they are too dramatic, so I am settling for randomish. 

I have also bought 16 glassy, shiny silver tiles for the utility room and they just go in a straight row, so should be quite straightforward by comparison.

The plasterers are still here and working on the staircase which made it difficult for me to get around the house, so I made a trip to the garden centre instead and have bought quite a few more bargains.

Exchange of contracts

 Great news today as we exchanged contracts on our house in Nottingham today!

Crack open the fizzy wine. 

We complete in just over a week, which is excellent timing as we are almost out of money, and there is still quite a lot to buy for the build. 

Goodbye lovely old house, and I hope that the new one will be even better. 

Ps, fantastic photos and great service from Holden Copley Estate Agents.